


Shoddy Workmanship

by Ashesintheair



Category: Original Work
Genre: Creation Myth, Gen, Men being obnoxious, One Shot, Stealth mythology, our Universe is a dud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-27
Updated: 2020-07-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 22:47:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25424116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ashesintheair/pseuds/Ashesintheair
Summary: Men are men everywhere, even when they’re not.———The rush of steam drew the attention of a young man, idling at a nearby bench and he walked over to inspect her latest work.“Another one of your orbs, Sophia?”Sophia rolled her eyes at the condescension in his voice and ignored him, taking a long drink of water straight out of a pitcher.





	Shoddy Workmanship

The glass glowed blue and white before the woman blew down the long pipe. Sweat-soaked strands of hair streaked with grey fell into her eyes as she cut the deep orange sphere from the end of the pipe and used her tools to perfect the shape.

The rush of steam drew the attention of a young man, idling at a nearby bench and he walked over to inspect her latest work.

“Another one of your orbs, Sophia?”

Sophia rolled her eyes at the condescension in his voice and ignored him, taking a long drink of water straight out of a pitcher.

“I don’t know what you find in them. Did you sell the last one yet?”

“One day, Elah, you might see value in them beyond coin. They aren’t for everyone. They need careful owners. You are not a careful owner,” Sophia said pointedly. She declined to look up at him, still watching the swirls and points of light in the cooling glass.

The sting landed home and Elah snatched up the pipe, jabbing it into the furnace to gather the leftover glass.

Sophia treated him to another expressive eye roll as he carelessly rolled the white-hot ball on the marver. She ignored the thuds and cluttering noise of his work and focused on her little creation.

“There!” Elah said triumphantly, dropping a sphere onto the bench in front of her. “Isn’t it as fine as yours?”

Sophia’s eyes tracked the chalk smudge in the orb and the moving points of light. “It was made with pride, not care. It shows.”

He shrugged off the comment and returned to his own bench. “The words of a woman bested,” he retorted. “You can keep it. You might learn something.”

Sophia ran her hand over the discarded orb and felt the ridges that would need to be smoothed down. She stared into the bright points of light as they spun and danced. She tracked the movement of the tiny planets and watched new stars spark into life. There were great fractures in the creation; matter that did not seem to exist properly, laws written into the orb that did not make sense. It was not one of her worlds, that was for damn sure.

“It was a bad start. But it was a start,” she murmured to herself. “Let’s polish you up a little and find you an owner. A little love might do you some good.”


End file.
